Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to Operation Pitting, what recent assessment he has made of the UK's strategic transport capability.

Operation PITTING was not only a strategic success, but as the largest humanitarian operation conducted by the RAF since the Berlin Airlift it also validated many Defence Planning Assumptions, using the full range of Air Transport capabilities - C-17, Voyager, A400M and Hercules. Whilst the Air Mobility Force operated at surge for a period of weeks, it was able to meet all of the operational tasks asked of it. Increases in the number of available A400Ms over the next few years will see that capacity increase further.